On the day of the Court of Appeal hearing, SAVE has published further details of its alternative scheme for Lime Street. The plans show how the existing buildings on this historic street, including the Futurist frontage, could be integrated into a new mixed use development offering a high quality hotel, student accommodation and restaurants, cafes and shops.

In May, SAVE published a ‘vision’ of what Lime Street could look like with the buildings along Lime Street restored and re-opened, and the 1912 Futurist frontage incorporated in a new development.

With conservation architect Eva Palacios, we have now done further work to show how the spaces inside the scheme could work – including an 85 bed hotel using the Futurist frontage as a grand entrance, as well as the proposed 5 storey student accommodation block to the rear – with capacity for 98 rooms.

By working up our alternative scheme, we want to open the debate about the future of this historic street – Liverpool’s gateway to the city. SAVE strongly believes that the Neptune/Liverpool City Council scheme is not right for this key location, and that Liverpool deserves a development that responds to its setting in the buffer zone of the World Heritage Site, rather than ignoring it.

Director of SAVE Henrietta Billings said: “These plans are designed to show that it is possible to keep the existing historic buildings, bring them back to life and integrate them into a new development on Lime Street. It shows that there could easily be alternatives to the major demolition currently proposed by the Council and Neptune. There is scope for building on the back of the site, but there is no need to destroy almost the entire block of one of Liverpool’s most famous streets.”

Executive President of SAVE Marcus Binney said: “This is a classic opportunity for conservation led regeneration. The triumphal roman front of the Futurist is one of the best surviving examples of early cinema architecture and its neighbours originate from the great Georgian expansion of the city. Our alternative will have far more character and style and produce a stylish city centre hotel."

National developer City & Country has expressed an interest in developing a scheme on the Lime Street site along the lines of the plans outlined by SAVE – one that retains the original terrace of buildings, including the frontage of the Futurist.

In a letter sent to SAVE dated 21st June, Simon Marner, Associate Director at City & Country said: “We learnt with interest of SAVE’s proposals for Lime Street, including the retention and restoration of the existing terrace and frontage of the Futurist. We are certainly interested in exploring a scheme on the lines SAVE proposes – that is for a hotel behind the façade of the Futurist and we like the idea of reopening the shops along the street and having a mix of retail and places to eat, with a mix of office and residential use above.

“The rear of the site clearly has the potential for new development and we appreciate SAVE’s concern that new buildings along Bolton Street should not be high and intrusive. We would be interested to look at student accommodation on this side of the site as part of a comprehensive redevelopment scheme.”

City & Country beginning as commercial builders, took on two large country houses Balls Park and Cheverills and successfully converted them. Their scheme at Warley Hospital (now The Galleries), in Brentford, is illustrated in SAVE’s latest publication Big Saves: Heroic Transformation of Great Landmarks.

The Court of Appeal hearing relates to SAVE’s challenge of a planning consent granted last year which would see the demolition of the historic 1912 Futurist Cinema and more than 10 flanking 18th,19th and 20thbuildings on Liverpool’s key thoroughfare and arrival point in the city.

The replacement scheme comprises an 11 storey student accommodation and hotel led development.

SAVE is challenging the planning permission at the Court of Appeal on the grounds that Liverpool City Council failed to consult either UNESCO or DCMS regarding the impact on the World Heritage Site.

2. World Heritage status was awarded to Liverpool in light of its genuine global significance, and Liverpool City Council signed up to the responsibilities and stewardship that go with this honour. This status is designed to ensure that the quality of major new development is commensurate with its international significance.

3. SAVE is a national organisation with a long standing and firm commitment to heritage and the growth of Liverpool. For over 40 years SAVE has been involved in championing the rescue and reuse of numerous Liverpool landmarks, including the Albert docks, North Western Hotel on Lime Street the churches of St Francis Xavier and St Mary of the Angels (Everton) and St Andrew’s Rodney Street, the Littlewoods building, the Granby Streets and the Welsh Streets and most recently Andrew Gibson House.

4. The development, granted planning permission last year by Liverpool City Council, is due to be heard at the Court of Appeal on 22 June.

5. SAVE Britain’s Heritage has been campaigning for historic buildings since its formation in 1975 by a group of architectural historians, writers, journalists and planners. It is a strong, independent voice in conservation, free to respond rapidly to emergencies and to speak out loud for the historic built environment.

CONTACT SAVE

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